Draft-evener.



No. 741,800. PATENTED OCT. 20, 1903.

G; LA DOW.

DRAFT EVENER.

APPLIOATION FILED mm. 15, 1903 N0 MODEL.

wfimesaes m: Norms PETERS co. PHOTOLITHD WASHINGTON, n, c.

UNITED STATES Patented October 20, 1903.

CHARLES LA DOW, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

DRAF'EI'QEVENEVR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,800, dated October20, 1903.

Application filed August l5I 1903. Serial No. 169,576. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LA Dow, of the city and county of Albany, inthe State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inEveners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new form and new construction of eveners fordraft purposes and for equalizing purposes and to a new method forassembling and holding together their parts; and it is especiallyadapted for use in whiffletrees and neck-yokes and also for draw-barsand draft-eveners for barrows and the like.

In the drawings, Figurel represents an enlarged plan view of aswingletree made according to my invention before its parts areassembled. Fig. 2 illustrates a sectional plan View of a swingletreeconstructed according to my invention and ready for use. Fig. 3illustrates a complete set of whiffletrees consisting of twoswingletrees and a doubletree constructed andlinked together accordingto my invention. Fig. 4: illustrates a plan View of my evener adapted tooperate as a neckyoke.

I prefer to construct an evener under my.

invention with a tubular rod A and a draftrod B, carrying hooks or rings0, the whole being made from material of commercial shapes, the tubebeing cut to the proper length and made perfectly straight,'and the rodbeing also cut to the proper length and bentinto the form shown in Fig.1, where it is indicated by full lines as being ready for insertion atits ends into the ends oftubeA and by dotted lines the position and formit assumes at this step of assembling. ordinary pattern are slippedloosely into the eyes I) of the rod B, and the hooked portions 12 b arepressed toward each other in the ends of the tube A, which causes therod 13 to assume the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The rod Bis then twisted into the form shown in Fig. 2. This causes the ends ofthe rod B to approach each other Within the tube and also causes the.portion 1) to approach the tube in a transverse direction until the rodassumes the form shown in Fig. 2. The rod B is thus securely locked tothe tube A and cannot be withdrawn therefrom without destroying thestructure. The

The hooks 0r rings 0 of the hooked portions stand at such angle to thetube as to fill the bore thereof, which prevents rattling.

In Fig. 3 are shown four dotted lines which indicate the lines of draftfrom the animals, from which it will be seen that draft strains whenapplied to whi'ftietrees constructed as described tend to draw the endsof the rod B toward each other, thus rendering the structure strongestwhen draft strains are applied thereto.

By reference to the dotted lines in Fig. 2 it will be seen that thedraft-eyes b bhave when strained by drafts or other causes a springaction, which permits the body portion of rod B to spring or yieldrearwardly when heavy draft strains are applied thereto, thus relievingthe animals shoulders. This construction afiords a cushion or yieldingaction to all these eveners, rendering them stronger than others andeasier for the animal to work in. It will also be seen by reference toFig. 2 that the rod B is twisted into a spiral spring at W, whichincreases the above-named spring action. The draft-eye b (shown in Fig.2) is so bent as to stand vertically, which afiords a natural easy meansfor linking the swingletrees to the doubletree and to also give themfree swiveling action in all directions.

It will be observed that the swingletrees and doubletree are all made ofround material, which for some purposes is of great ad- ,vantage- -forinstance, when used as whittletrees for hauling-a plow, where theoperator is frequently obliged to pull the plow and its attachedwhiffletrees backward by main strength. Whifiietrees when constructedround, as by my invention, are more easily hauled backward than whenconstructed in other ways. It will also be observed that all the evenersshown are made of material which is of substantially the same dimensionsthroughout the entire length of each piece, which gives them asymmetrical appearance and reduces weight and cost. It will also beobserved that the draft-rod is applied to the rod A by its ends only andthat draft strains tend to cause the ends of the rod to endeavor toapproach each other, thus causing the bar A to become a truss-bar anddraft strains to be applied only in an end direction relatively theretoinstead of being applied in a transverse direction,as heretofore. Thedraft-eyes b abut against the ends of bar A to form a stop, whichprevents the ends 1) of rod B from entering too far into bar A. It istherefore obvious that the structure herein described being withoutstrains in a transverse direction can be made lighter and at the sametime stronger than if constructed as heretofore.

I prefer to construct my evener of round tubular material; but it can beconstructed ofsolid material and can be made of Wood, if desired; but aconstruction which is all steel and not perforated is preferable.

It will be seen that the draft-rod and drafteye and draft-hooks areintegral, and therefore stronger than if made up of different partsriveted or bolted together, as heretofore. The draft-rods being attachedto the trussbar by their ends only leave an unobstructed space betweenthe rod and truss-bar their entire length, thus affording a clean andhandsome appearance. The draft-eyes of bar B are brought near to theends of bar A to prevent hooks C from slipping lengthwise of rod B.

I have described the form of construction which I prefer; butmyinvention may be applied in other forms and with any desired materialwithout departing from the spirit and scope of my invention and claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In an evener thecombination of two bars, one having its ends perforated longitudinallyand the other having hooks adapted to enter said perforations and bebrought toward each other therein by twisting its central portion intoan eye.

2. As a new article of manufacture an evener perforated longitudinallyand cen- 'trally, having a looped draft-rod whose ends A. As a newarticle of manufacture an evener comprising a hollow truss-bar supportedagainst draft strains by a rod attached to the ends thereof by loopedportions which form rounded ends to the evener.

5. In an evener a truss-bar, and a draftrod having a draft-eyeconsisting of an angled end entering endwise into the end of thetrussbar, and a loop closed at its front end and open at its rearportion.

6. An evener comprising a hollow trussbar A, and draft-rod B, havingreverselycurved ends, the extremities of which are assembled andmaintained in a longitudinal plane relatively to and within the hollowof truss-bar A. I

7. An evener comprising a truss-bar and draft-rod arranged on one planein one direction but not on a plane in another direction and supportedrelatively to each other by their ends only, the extreme ends of thedraftrod being covered by the surrounding trussbar and held therein inalinement with the length of the truss-bar.

Toronto, Ontario, August 13, 1903.

CHARLES LA DOW.

In presence of JOHN G. RIDOUT, A. M. MORAE.

